François Arnaud has had a heady few weeks.  While promoting Heated Rivalry, he was surprised to meet a superfan backstage at CBS Mornings – Oprah Winfrey!  “Are you enjoying all the heat?” asked O.  “I’m riding the wave.”  Oprah smiled and said, “That’s exactly what I was going to say – ride the wave and stay completely present in all of it.  Just ride it.  It’s fantastic.  I’m so happy for you.  And the fact that it’s coming at a time in your life when you’re really able to accept it.”  François agreed, saying, “Totally.  I think if it happened to me at 25, I’d be dead now.  But now I can handle it.  I know who I am.”  “You know who you are.  ‘Cause if you don’t know who you are, you fall off.”  Arnaud assured her, “I won’t fall off.”  PHEW!

On CBS Mornings, François said that prior to going into production with Crave in Canada, Heated Rivalry had a deal with a “big streamer” in the US.  But they had a list of notes for Jacob Tierney, the series creator – including “no kissing until episode five”.  Jacob’s response?  “Well, that’s not what we’re doing.”  After they showed a clip of Scott and Kip in a locked embrace, Arnaud made the following observation: “I think Kip needs to stop working out, ‘cause he’s a smoothie boy.  He shouldn’t have that body and shouldn’t look better than the hockey players.”  You can see the entire interview on BillyMasters.com.

While in NYC, Arnaud was spotted on several occasions with co-star Connor Storrie, adding credence to rumors that the two are dating.  They were even photographed together at JFK where they caught a flight to LAX.

The Heated Rivalry effect keeps gaining momentum.  Everyone is talking about last week’s Saturday Night Live parody (yes, we’ll post it).  Even the NHL has weighed in on the series.  Commissioner Gary Bettman says that he binged it in one night.  “It’s a wonderful story.  The content – particularly for young people – may be a little spicy, so you have to balance that out.”  I suspect young people are the ones least taken aback by the “spice”.  While no NHL player has yet come out, it’s in the air.  In 2021, Canadian Luke Prokop was under contract with an NHL team, although he ended up with an AHL team (I say as if I know the difference).  Perhaps that was all for the best – the NHL team was the Nashville Predators!  And while much was made of Jesse Kortuem coming out due to the series, he too never played with an NHL team.  Just a matter of time.